Matter vs. Antimatter: New CERN Experiment Challenges Conventional Physics

The BASE team at CERN has enhanced antiproton cooling techniques, allowing quicker and more precise measurements that challenge existing theories of matter-antimatter symmetry, potentially reshaping our understanding of the universe’s composition.

Why does the universe contain matter and virtually no antimatter? The BASE international research collaboration at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, led by Professor Dr. Stefan Ulmer from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), has made a significant experimental breakthrough in addressing this question. They have developed a method to measure the mass and magnetic moment of antiprotons with unprecedented precision, which may help uncover possible asymmetries between matter and antimatter. The team at BASE has designed a trap that can cool individual antiprotons much faster than previously possible, as reported in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters.